direct military options now be on the table? we are told tonight there are some u.s. military assets already in the mediterranean, and two more powerful navy ships not too far away down here in the red sea. the military debate, in just a moment. but first, let's begin with a firsthand assessment of gadhafi's grip on power, if not reality. our senior international correspondent, nic robertson, is in tripoli. nic, let's just start right there, in a stalemate with gadhafi in charge of tripoli, i'm going to show our viewers here a bit of this control. you see the difference. the green area controlled by opposition forces, the red area definitely controlled by gadhafi. the question becomes, nic, resolve. how deep is the opposition? how deep is its resolve to keep fighting? >> reporter: well, the government says its resolve to keep on going is strong. they say that they actually control three quarters of the country and they say, on top of that, if there are any inside that three quarters that the opposition has, it's tiny, tiny pockets, not the reverse. of course, that's not the reality,